Unimaginably
by a lame penname
Summary: Summary: He's the weirdo, the outcast. He was a failure at both sports and academics. That's what it says in the reports. But when Reborn arrives to tutor him, Sawada Tsunayoshi is the last thing he imagined him to be. In the first place, why does it seem like he already knows about the existence of his flames?
1. Prologue

**AN: **This was lying around for a while in my mind but I've just written out the first chapter, kinda. This one's just a prologue but omg it's so short bwahaha. Anyway yeah kill me. Now.

**WARNINGS: **OOC, not-so-airheaded Nana, (eh too lazy to think)

I DO NOT OWN KHR. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO AKIRA AMANO.

* * *

A small figure walks through the streets of the town of Namimori, one hand carrying a small black suitcase and the other held a piece of paper.

He traipsed around the neighborhood for a while, finally stopping at a house with a nameplate that read 'Sawada.' The figure slid the piece of paper into the slat for the mail and went to hide before someone would see him.

Not long after, the housewife, Sawada Nana came out yawning and sleepy to gather the papers and immediately noticed something new.

_'What's this?'_ She looked at the flyer in her hands.

_Will train your child to be the leader of the next generation._

_Grade and subject doesn't matter._

_-Reborn_

Then below that was a contact number.

_'A tutoring ad?'_

She would probably call it later, but for now, she went back into the house, ready to wake her son up for another school day.

In the shadows, Reborn watched this and smirked. The first step of his plan was going smoothly. Sawada Nana would call, he was sure. Because he was Reborn. And Reborn was never wrong.


	2. Chapter 1

Summary: He's the weirdo, the outcast. The one nobody likes. He doesn't need nor want anyone to accept him and he's fine the way he is now. But what happens when one day a baby shows up in his front door and claims he's going to be the next boss of the most powerful Mafia family?

* * *

Tsuna wants to be home early today. His mother is making his favorite Salisbury steak and he doesn't want to make her sad by not managing to show up for dinner as he had three nights in a row.

He doesn't have a good excuse for that because he thinks getting beaten up or chased by bullies isn't a form of excuse but a weakness and he has grown used to cursing at himself whenever he gets caught by one.

He snuck out of the classroom first, five minutes before the bell rings. Because for some unearthly reason, no one seemed to see or hear him, and even the demon prefect never noticed ever since the first time he's tried sneaking away (that or nobody minds it). He himself doesn't mind it, after all, less witnesses meant less chances of getting caught.

Everyone else was still either packing their things or staring anxiously at the hands of the clock so he took this chance to slip out of the classroom unnoticed.

Cutting classes wasn't really a problem for him. He understood the material and got average scores at least. He could understand lessons in the books by reading even without the help of teachers. The teachers in Namimori Middle School didn't know what they were doing half the time anyway. That didn't mean however that he was okay with every subject, in fact, his math needed a lot of help and he was barely even passing the subject. Though he still doesn't know why some others like to bully him. Was it because they thought he seemed too feminine?

Five minutes later, doors were slamming and chattering was filling the air. He quickened his pace so any bullies who might be near wouldn't see him before he made it out of the premises. It was of course, simply wishful thinking for his part. His hair didn't help either. It was unusually gravity-defying and obviously attracted a lot of attention, for not even a minute later, a bulkier teen has already spotted his unruly brown hair that's sticking out amongst the crowd. He called out to his buddies, of course and Tsuna managed to hear with well-trained ears.

He picks up running all of a sudden, determined not to let them catch him. He honestly didn't understand; everywhere else, he's left alone and forgotten. It is only after school that the bullies would try to make their move. Yet, it was always at that time that the infamous demon prefect who practically ruled over Namimori patrols the areas, looking for troublemaking 'prey' to 'bite to death' which no one ever knew what made him say because he never bit anyone literally and just beat them up with a pair of equally demonic tonfas. Maybe they were secretly masochists who were trying to get Hibari's attention by causing trouble? Yeah, no. It was an idiotic idea to begin with. Tsuna almost facepalmed. Why was he thinking about it anyway? It shouldn't matter to him right now.

He pushed past the sudden throng of people who've walked fast enough to catch up to him and nearly tripped as a body slammed into his.

"Sorry," he heard a voice say. Tsuna simply shook his head and continued sprinting. He turned the corner for the stairs, skipping down and practically leaping over the last five steps.

Landing safely, he made a dash for the nearest hiding place which is a broom closet behind the stairs. He slid in easily and closed the door.

The place was cluttered with cleaning tools mostly consisting of mops, buckets, brooms and rags so it was quite a tight fit. He sat on an overturned pail and hugged his school bag to his chest, breathing a sigh of relief as he heard the loud stomping footsteps breeze by.

He inched the door open slightly, peeking out with one eye to see if his pursuers had come back. Satisfied that he didn't see any bully, he stepped out quietly and carefully, not forgetting to close the door again.

He sees all of his classmates gathered in the field competing against each other in a baseball match once he got outside. As usual, nobody notices his absence. They don't care after all. A ball flies over his head as the star Yamamoto Takeshi hits a home run. His head turns back in the direction of the field and he sees the baseball star staring at him with a strange look. Seconds later, the boy is being attacked by fangirls so he turns away to grin at them. The brunet thinks it's strange that the boy would stare at him with such a look but pushes the thought to the back of his mind and continues on his way back home.

"I'm home," he said as he bends down to arrange his shoes. He smells the aroma of the steak and instantly feels relieved that his mother didn't forget.

"Welcome back Tsu-kun!" Nana greeted cheerfully from the kitchen as she heard the thump of the door. "Dinner will be ready in a while, go wash up and come right down to eat your favorite hamburger." Her son made a small noise to let her know he'll be down as soon as possible.

When Tsuna has already gone to his room, the woman suddenly remembers about something she had forgotten to tell him. _'Oh well, I guess I can just tell Tsu-kun later.'_

Twenty minutes later, Tsuna comes downstairs in a dark green shirt and a pair of shorts. Nana was just finishing setting up the table and her son immediately went to help her. As soon as the table was set and the food placed, the mother and son pair sat in their respective chairs with the latter eyeing the food hungrily.

Nana giggled. "You must be starving, Tsu-kun. Go ahead and dig in!"

With a quick "Thank you for the food" from the boy, he begins stuffing his mouth in between complimenting his mother's cooking making the woman giggle and lightly apprehend him for speaking with his mouth full. The woman began to eat her own at a slightly more steady pace.

"By the way Tsu-kun... I saw an interesting flyer today…." With stuffed cheeks much like a squirrel, he looked up questioningly at his mother.

"It said 'I will train your child to be the leader of the next generation. Grade and subject doesn't matter. -Reborn.' All they need is food and a place to live and they'll teach you for free! Isn't that wonderful?" Tsuna nearly choked. He swallowed the food in one large gulp.

"But… I don't need a tutor… I mean, I'm doing okay in school right? I know my math needs a bit of help but I can work on it without a tutor right?"

"Oh Tsu-kun, I already gave them a call. Don't worry, they sound nice." Nana reassured. It only made her son even more nervous.

"But mom… what if we don't get along? I don't want to know what'll happen if he _really_ doesn't like me." Tsuna said.

Nana's gaze softened. "Why of course he'll like you, Tsu-kun! You're a very lovable boy. Besides, I didn't do this because I think you'll fail in school. I know you can do better, but that's not the only reason." Replied the brunet's mother. "For me, all I ever wanted was for you to bring home a friend, you know? It hurts a mother to see their child always alone and without a friend, so I thought maybe having a home tutor might open you up a little more, even just enough to have one friend. Then you'll feel happier and less lonely and Mama will be happy too."

Her son sighed in defeat. "When's this tutor coming over then?" Nana smiled.

"Tomorrow morning he'll be here bright and early! There's no school tomorrow so you two can have time to get familiar with each other first."

"Thanks mom," said the brunet, and he meant it. After all, he was a failure with absolutely no social life whatsoever and what his mom was doing was an absolutely unnecessary bother. But she did it anyway for him. Anyone else would have given up on him already, but not his mom. She did everything to make him happy. The same could not be said for his father, however.

He wasn't a man Tsuna could call 'dad,' simply because the man was more of a stranger than anything to him. He was home a total of three weeks in a year, often just sleeping and drinking during his visits. He brought gifts for Tsuna every time he visited and although this should be considered a memento or anything of the like from a family member who was barely ever home, the brunet considered it as simply an… _obligation_, like, a payment for never being there.

O-of course it didn't help that he always tried to avoid the man whenever he was home…. But well…. He couldn't help it! He'd always been wary of his father, of _everybody_, in fact. It was a contributing factor to his lack of social life. It was just, well, strange, that he mistrusted his own father so much.

While normal people felt cheer and celebrated when their parents come back home after a long time, he'd felt nothing but unease and even a bit of suspicion. He wouldn't be lying if he said he had no idea why he even felt that way. Call it his 'intuition' or 'gut' or 'sixth sense,' there was definitely something making him feel this way.

He absently cleared the dishes while his mom put on her apron to start washing the utensils they had used. "Don't worry, Tsu-kun. Really, if this doesn't work out then I'll fire him, alright?" Said his mother. Tsuna smiled.

"Thanks mom, really." The woman smiled cheerfully. "Of course, Tsu-kun."

He remembered once when he was small, Iemitsu had invited his 'boss', an older man, to stay in Japan for a week. Iemitsu－with his sleeveless shirt and casual shorts had escorted the man all the way from the airport to their house. His boss, with his floral shirt and summer hat, looked like a tourist headed for warm beaches but Tsuna had been scared to death of him, only because of his graying hair and bushy mustache.

He had kind eyes and a deep, warm voice that made Tsuna feel relaxed whenever he spoke. He remembered hiding behind his mom's leg when he first made his appearance.

Later in the afternoon, as they chat in the living room, the bouncy ball he's playing with bounds over to the other side of the backyard so he rushes over to pick it up. When he gets there however, a chihuahua, a small, cute, fluffy and terrifying chihuahua is standing there, growling at him.

Being the clumsy boy he is who's afraid of anything and everything, as soon as he grips the ball, he loses his footing and trips, falling on his back as the leashed predator advanced toward him. In a fleeting moment of panic, he'd screamed, just before the puppy pounced on him and attacked his face with a saliva-filled tongue. A-and it was so embarrassing but he had cried because of that. Moments later, the dog was lifted off of him and he was in his mother's arms.

Then he was staring into the eyes of his father's boss, who had told him to call him 'Uncle Timoteo,' and he was lifting a finger to his forehead now. He could feel a weird energy pulsating as the finger neared his skin. As soon as it touched the exposed flesh, a gentle warmth enveloped him and he instantly felt sleepy. When he started closing his eyes however, he could see a light on the tip of the man's finger, almost like a flame.

Fine, he'd never outgrown the fear of dogs, but he had taken to calling Uncle Timoteo as Grandpa which was still embarrassing most especially when his father was around. Ugh.

With these less than happy thoughts in his head, he trudged up the stairs to his room. The moment he arrived, he collapsed on his bed then remembered he needed to study for a math quiz on Monday. '_Stupid, evil math….' _he thought to himself in annoyance.

He rolled off his comfy bed and landed with a thud on the floor. So maybe the clumsiness didn't go away either…fine…. He fished for the math book in his backpack and opened it up to page 27. After two minutes, Sawada Nana could hear her son screaming in frustration and tearing his hair out from his scalp. The woman just giggles and prepares a light snack for her son.

From a telephone line right above the window of Sawada Tsunayoshi's room, a pair of green binoculars shifted into a chameleon and a cheshire grin adorned the face of the observer. "Dame-Tsuna…. How interesting."

In his room, Tsuna suddenly shivered in fear.

* * *

**AN:** Not exactly exciting I know, but I wanted to show a bit of characterization first so it wouldn't be too sudden and also Tsuna's daily life sooo yeah.

Tell me what you thought?


	3. Chapter 2

I edited chapter 1 a bit. You don't need to go read it again, I simply changed some of the tenses of verbs because it was bothering me. A lot.

**Katekyo Hitman REBORN! belongs to Akira Amano!**

* * *

You would get varied answers if you asked one about Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Some would say that he was overall cute and timid. Others would shake their heads and tell you that he wasn't anything worth knowing about. Most though, would laugh and say that he was a clumsy fool who was no good at anything.

It was because of this that Reborn didn't just march into the Sawada household and drag the poor boy out to beat some sense into him. Actually, that was just partly the reason, the other being that the Ninth wouldn't be pleased if he did so.

Reborn wanted to learn more about the oddity named Sawada Tsunayoshi. Granted he didn't have a mission this interesting since Dino, but that wouldn't have mattered either way, Sawada Tsunayoshi would not be a challenge.

Reborn had already let himself in the house to observe his future student.

_CRASH! THUMP!_

'_Ouch.' _Thought one Sawada Tsunayoshi as he landed at the bottom of the stairs. Way to start off the morning.

"Ciaossu."

Tsuna jumped. What was that? He looked around but found nothing, then searched the floor, only to see a baby in a tuxedo standing in front of him. Tsuna blinked once.

"Ciaossu," it said again. Tsuna squeaked.

"Wha-? Whose kid are you? What are you doing here?" he asked to the baby before face-palming as he realized that the baby _wouldn't be able to talk._ Just then, his mother came up beside him.

"Hm? Whose child is this? He's very cute." She knelt down to the baby. "Are you lost?" she asked in a tenderly manner.

"My name is Reborn. I'm the home tutor." He said bluntly. Despite how shocking that statement should have been, Sawada Nana only cooed even more. "Aw, how cute!"

Tsuna blinked again. "My tutor is a baby?"

"Nice to meet you too, Dame-Tsuna." Said Reborn. Tsuna flushed before realizing something.

"Wait－how did you know my name?!"

Reborn grinned. "It is a tutor's job to know all basic info about their student, Dame-Tsuna."

Great. Tsuna almost groaned out loud. Another person to make fun of him…and it was a Saturday! The stupid little baby would have all weekend to ridicule him.

There was a sharp kick to his stomach and he fell over, clutching at the sore spot as the baby landed on his chest. "I am here to _teach,_ not to waste all my time in calling you stupid nicknames."

Tsuna gaped. "What?" did the baby just _read his mind?_

"I can read minds." He said as if answering to Tsuna's thoughts. He jumped off the teen's body and the brunet sighed in relief.

"Oh, breakfast is ready! Reborn-kun would you like to come join us?" Nana asked cheerfully when she suddenly appeared, as if she wasn't aware of what had just transpired, which, looking back, would most likely be the case.

"Do you have some espresso? I always like a good cup of espresso."

Tsuna got up from the floor and walked towards the table, hand still on his stomach. "Babies shouldn't be drinking coffee." He muttered quietly.

"I'm not a baby."

"Well you appear as one, even if you say you aren't."

"You're taking this surprisingly well,"

"Taking what well?"

"Me not being a baby." Reborn said. "Babies should not be able to talk, let alone read minds. Yet when I did these, you showed for only a moment, surprise." He elaborated.

It was indeed strange. According to the files he had been given, along with Iemitsu's first hand input, Sawada Tsunayoshi was a no-good nobody with average grades and was a scaredy cat. He had no apparent social status and as at the bottom of the food chain. But if that was so…

Why wasn't he screaming like his head was on fire?

Tsuna blinked. "Um…I don't know, I guess I just sort of accepted it? I mean, I admit it was pretty startling at first but I guess I got used to it."

Reborn's black eyes stared unwaveringly at the boy who shifted uncomfortably. It literally felt like the baby was drilling holes into his face just by looking at him.

"S-stop that." He said. The baby continued to look at him innocently. "Stop what?" he asked, pretending to be clueless. It was honestly creepy.

"Nevermind," he said quickly. The infant was too weird to be true. Tsuna would do his best to avoid the so-called tutor for the remainder of the weekend. Yep. Let's start by totally ignoring him and getting some breakfast.

The brunet took out three plates and three pairs of chopsticks and set them on the dining table. Then he grabbed two cups and filled them with water before placing them where his and his mother's plates were.

"Here you go, Reborn-kun!" Nana said cheerfully as she placed the hot cup of coffee in front of Reborn then proceeded to pile omelets into their plates.

"I'm digging in." said the infant as soon as Nana sat down. He took a sip of the espresso and ate a bite of the omelet. "Your cooking is wonderful, Sawada-san. It is perfect." He complimented easily. The woman blushed and giggled.

"Oh, Reborn-kun, don't be silly. It's far from perfect. And you can just call me Mama; Sawada-san makes me sound old." She said as she waved a hand dismissively. Tsuna held in the urge to throw up at the almost flirting manner of Reborn. Seriously. A baby. Looking like he was trying to hit on a married woman. How disgusting was that?

"Alright, Mama then. Since I'm going to be your son's tutor starting today, an introduction wouldn't be bad, don't you think?"

"Yes, of course, Reborn-kun! After breakfast, you and Tsu-kun can go up to his room and learn about each other!"

'_Well, so much for avoiding him.' _Tsuna thought glumly but froze when he felt an almost murderous glare sent in his direction. When he turned to look at the tutor, he was stuffing himself with his mom's breakfast.

* * *

After cleaning up the table, Nana told her son to show the new tutor his room and that she would bring snacks up later.

The boy climbed the stairs slowly so that he wouldn't trip. The baby rode atop his head of fluffy brown hair. They went into his room and he sat down in front of the low table, the infant hopping off to stand on the table.

"…Are we really going to do a self-introduction?" Tsuna asked meekly.

"Yes. I will anyway." He replied. "So in a proper introduction, names are exchanged first, but you already know mine so I'll get straight to the point." Said Reborn.

"Don't I need to introduce myself?"

"I have a file about you so shut up and listen closely." Tsuna promptly closed his mouth as ordered. He didn't know how, but the baby held so much…command.

"I'm a hitman from Italy. My job here is to train you to be the tenth mafia boss of Vongola Famiglia." He said bluntly.

_3…2…1…_

"_WHAT?_" He squeaked. Was the baby _out of his mind?!_

"No, I am not out of my mind." He said disdainfully. He produced a stack of papers from his briefcase and arranged them. "You are the great-great-great grandson of the first Vongola boss who flew from Italy to Japan after he retired, therefore you are an eligible candidate to be the heir." He explained as he handed over a yellowed paper. The boy accepted the old paper. It was a family tree.

"But… why me? I mean the Ninth boss should probably have a child to pass the throne to right?"

"You really don't understand the term 'underground' do you? Of course the Ninth had children."

"So why…?"

"They were killed, obviously. The eldest son, Enrico, was shot and killed in a gunfight. The favorite son, Federico, was found reduced to bones. The last son, Massimo, was drowned. Here are the pictures for proof." The baby handed over three more papers. Tsuna took a peek and immediately felt like vomiting.

"I DON'T WANT TO SEE THOSE!" He yelled, covering his eyes with a hand. Reborn snorted and retracted his hand.

"By the way, you don't have any say in this matter. You're going to become the Vongola Decimo."

"What?!"

Reborn was rummaging around his suitcase again. Seconds later, he pulled out a horrendous rifle. Tsuna screamed.

"W-what are you doing with that? Put that away!"

Reborn's eyes glinted. "Rule number one. You do not order your tutor around." The baby cocked his gun and fired. The bullet nearly grazed the brunet's cheek and embedded itself on the wall behind him.

"What was that for?!" demanded the boy in indignation. Reborn ignored him and continued.

"Rule number two: Do not question my actions or authority."

"Who made you boss here? This is my room!"

"Rule number three: Do not defy me." Tsuna spluttered.

"Hey! Stop ignoring me!"

Reborn held up three fingers. "If any of these rules are broken," his eyes glinted evilly, "You will be severely punished."

"…"

"Shall we start then?" Reborn threw a thick book at him which he clumsily caught. "That's the 'History of Vongola Famiglia' for family members only of course. By the way, that's only the first volume. There are four more so I suggest you get started reading that. I'm going to give you a test about chapters one to five later."

Tsuna groaned. _'I'll be dead from this devil tutor sooner than I can age!'_

"I expect you to remember every single detail, word by word from this book. If you're not done with all five volumes by Wednesday…" the hitman trailed off and the brunet shuddered. Somehow, he already knew the consequences would not be pretty. The baby jumped off the table and headed out the door.

"W-wait! Where are you going?"

The baby smirked. "Anywhere I want, Dame-Tsuna."

* * *

"Let's see…. Chapter One. The Vongola Famiglia was formed by Giotto and his childhood friend G…. I'll die of boredom sooner than this crazy tutor kills me with information overload." He muttered.

The book looked old and was very thick. Addedly, it was also hard-bound. It reminded Tsuna of a thick French dictionary.

'_This could have been a good weapon.'_

Then he suddenly remembered what the baby had said.

"_By the way, that's only the first volume. There are four more so I suggest you get started reading that."_

Maybe he would really die! He could already see the headlines:

**SAWADA 'DAME-TSUNA' TSUNAYOSHI'S DEATH CAUSED BY INFORMATION OVERLOAD!**

Yup, that would definitely work out well.

"_I'm probably going to get killed by assassins before I finish all these."_

Tsuna blinked. Was someone saying the same things he was thinking of?

"_Yes there is." _Tsuna turned his head around.

"Reborn! What are you doing with that thing? Get it away from my ear!" he almost screeched. Reborn stared, unimpressed.

"It's called a megaphone, you idiot. Haven't you ever heard of it? Also, I could hear everything you were muttering to yourself."

"Wha- But I thought you went somewhere!"

"A hitman has ears everywhere, Dame-Tsuna. There was something I neglected to tell you before, too. I'm the world's number one hitman. All who goes against me dies." He said bluntly.

Tsuna was silent for a moment before he blurted out, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?!"

Reborn was not affected by his outburst. "Words," he replied. Tsuna looked at him dubiously.

Reborn reached up a finger to the brim of his fedora and a green…thing that Tsuna had never noticed or ever seen before in his life climbed onto it.

"W-what is that?" asked the boy, pointing to the object in his tutor's hand.

"This is Leon, my shape-shifting chameleon."

Tsuna observed in fascination as the chameleon's tongue licked his master's finger affectionately. Then he blinked when it suddenly glowed, then morphed into a green gun. Reborn aimed directly at him.

"HIIIIEEEEE!" He screamed in terror and jumped back before tripping and falling flat.

"I was about to praise you but that was lame. You'd already be dead if you were up against an actual enemy." Reborn clicked his tongue in an unimpressed manner and let Leon shift back to his original form.

"Get up and continue reading. If you're not done with five chapters by tonight…" The baby's eyes glinted with the promise of pain. Tsuna shuddered and got back on his feet.

"Evil little demon…"


	4. Chapter 3

**This story was not planned out at all. Sorry.**

**Used to be **_**Mental Typist.**_

**WARNINGS: **AU-ish(?), OOC-ness, Reborn being confused

**I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN!**

* * *

"Wake up, Dame-Tsuna." said Reborn as he kicked a certain brunet. Tsuna groaned and opened his eyes blearily to check his alarm clock. The digits 5:28 stared back at him mockingly. Tsuna groaned.

It was way too early to be woken up! But it was apparent that his new hit man tutor did not care.

"Get up and change your clothes." He ordered. "You're going to go on a morning jog."

Tsuna sputtered. "But Reborn! It's still too early! Besides, I'm still tired and sore from yesterday." Complained the brunet.

The weekend had been _very _long and _very _tedious. But if one were to be blunt, then the two days in which his tutor had been there to be a teacher, which was Saturday and Sunday, had been _nightmares._

Both days had started the same; he'd wake up normally, eat breakfast, help with cleaning up, and go back to his room. After that though, Reborn had given him some work to do that before he thought was impossible, now knew was very much possible.

On Saturday, he'd been forced to read and memorize the blasted _History of Vongola _book or whatever it was, as well as do all his homework, which he'd needed to give to the baby for him to check. Every time he found a mistake, he would get bombed. He thought he would actually die by bombs too.

The first time the boy handed his work over; Reborn had been pleasantly surprised to see that his new student had gotten more than sixty-five percent correct. Reborn had taught him _some_ things that he promised would help with the topics on the brunet's homework although Tsuna doubted that it did since it looked to have no relation whatsoever to it. He was proven quite wrong when he somehow miraculously corrected all his work.

On Sunday morning, he'd been given a pop quiz about what he'd learned the previous day from both the Vongola's history and everything school-related that Reborn had taught him. Afterwards, he'd been rewarded with a five-lap jog around Namimori which was pretty okay since considering the hit man's tendencies, he'd probably have been asked to climb the steepest mountain in Japan twice instead.

"It's way too early for you to whine." Said Reborn.

"It's way too early for a morning jog," Tsuna retorted. This earned him a whack over the head. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"It is not. Would you rather I wake you up at 4 AM instead? Maybe I _should _do that. And that was for questioning my actions. Have you already forgotten my rules?"

Tsuna sighed and rolled off the bed. He knew better than to question Reborn. Just two days with the little devil and he was already hurting all over. It would be a miracle if he didn't collapse while jogging today. He changed into sweatpants and headed out.

When he started jogging, Reborn hopped onto his head. "This is also training." He said. "If you let me fall, you'll be punished accordingly." Tsuna scowled at that.

"Yeah, yeah." He rolled his eyes.

After a few blocks, the brunet could vaguely make out another figure jogging towards him from the side. As the figure neared, Tsuna recognized it to be the star of the school's baseball team, Yamamoto Takeshi, the one who'd batted that baseball so far away from the field last Friday.

"Yo!" Yamamoto greeted with a smile when Tsuna was within hearing distance.

"Good morning, Yamamoto-san." Said Tsuna. Reborn who was watching from Tsuna's head, frowned.

According to Iemitsu, his 'little Tuna-fish' had always had speech problems. When he last came home two years ago, Tsuna couldn't even work up the courage to call him. He stuttered a lot and got tongue-tied around strangers or people he didn't know well, and Yamamoto was certainly a stranger to Tsuna.

Reborn remembered the first time he'd met the boy. He was definitely not all jumpy and stuttering like he would have expected. But Reborn had dismissed it because he thought it was because of the fact that his mother was around. He clearly shouldn't have let his guard down so easily. He was slipping.

"Is that kid your brother?" asked Yamamoto with a tilt of his head at Reborn. The infant smirked.

"No," he replied for Tsuna with his squeaky voice. "I'm his home tutor. And I'm a hit man."

"Ahaha!" Yamamoto laughed. "That's pretty cool!"

"Yes, it is."

"So Tsuna, I haven't seen you jogging in the morning before."

The brunet didn't seem affected by the question as he continued jogging at his own pace. "Reborn's making me go on morning jogs now." he answered.

Yamamoto laughed. "Ahaha! So this kid's name is Reborn? He has the right idea. You'll become fit and healthy if you run laps regularly."

Tsuna looked at him, slightly bewildered, then nearly tripped. Reborn dug a fist into the brunet's head. "If I fall, you'll be punished." He reminded. Although the little hit man wouldn't even come close to falling, it would be good to see if the brunet wouldn't be as clumsy because of a threat.

The brunet said nothing as Reborn began observing Yamamoto Takeshi. Since his strides were longer, the brunet needed to be faster in order to keep up with him. The tutor frowned to himself as he noticed that his student was already beginning to get tired.

_Hm, Yamamoto Takeshi has good energy and stamina. _Reborn thought. Aloud, he said, "You have a lot of stamina. And good balance."

The teen smiled. "I play baseball. It's essential for me to have those."

"I see. How long have you been playing baseball?"

"Since I was really small, maybe around when I was 7?" Yamamoto smiled nostalgically. He still kept his first baseball glove in his drawer. It was old and worn, given to him by his mother, but it was comfy and nice. A bit like a puppy even though there was no connection between puppies and baseball mitts.

After a few more blocks, Yamamoto bade the pair goodbye to head home and prepare for school. Reborn kept watching him run even as he became a dot in the distance.

XXX

"I'm off to school!" Tsuna called as he grabbed his bag.

"Have fun, Tsu-kun!" Nana replied cheerfully before continuing to wash the plates.

"You have a good relationship with your mother." Commented Reborn as they made their way towards Namimori Middle School. Tsuna turned and scowled at him.

"What are _you _doing here?"

"As a tutor, it is my job to understand all relationships my student has with other people."

"And what has that got to do with following me around like a stalker?"

"Does it bother you?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll continue following you."

As they rounded the corner, they bumped into Sasagawa Kyoko. She was without her brother, but anyone with ears could hear someone shouting 'EXTREME!' in the distance.

"Good morning, Tsuna-kun!" greeted the idol cheerfully. Reborn raised an eyebrow discreetly.

Again, what the hell was this popular-looking girl doing, talking to a no-good person? Was _everything_ in that report bloody wrong? Reborn should have expected this, seeing as Iemitsu _was_ a fool. But he didn't expect for every single thing to be wrong. This was definitely going to make his job a lot harder.

"Good morning, Sasagawa-san," said Tsuna politely. The girl smiled in acknowledgement at Reborn who was standing on someone's gate.

"Oh, you don't need to call me that way. Just 'Kyoko-chan' is fine. We're classmates right? Besides, it would confuse me with my brother."

Tsuna blinked then reddened. He'd never called anyone by their first name before. Did Reborn count? That guy didn't seem to have or need a surname, so he guessed not.

"O-okay," he stuttered. Reborn smirked. What the hell was up with that guy?

When Kyoko left to go ahead, Reborn turned to his student and grinned. "I think it's time to shoot you with a Dying Will bullet." He said cheerfully.

"A what?"

"A Dying Will bullet is a bullet which, when you're shot with, will bring you back to life to fulfill your last regret. It only lasts for five minutes though, and it burns most of your clothes."

Tsuna snorted at the tutor's description. "I don't regret," he said.

The infant's beady black eyes stared at Tsuna for a long while as if he was trying to decide whether his student was telling the truth or not.

"Really." Reborn finally said as he mentally frowned. Was it just him or was he unable to read Tsuna's mind right now? It was like there was something blocking it.

Odd.

"Wanna bet?"

"No," Reborn really didn't need having to put a bullet in his new student's head just to see whether he was telling the truth then having him die because he was. He had told Tsuna that he had absolutely no choice but to become the Vongola Decimo but even Reborn knew that endangering the boy was not the way to go. He was the last remaining candidate after all. "Hurry up or you'll be late for school."

Tsuna didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that he could actually be bitten to death by a certain bloodthirsty prefect that Reborn had been hearing much about. If anything, the boy looked calmer than ever. Reborn frowned and tipped his fedora slightly to hide his confused expression.

Tsuna glanced at Reborn for a second. "He doesn't notice me." Tsuna said as if he'd just read Reborn's mind. Reborn said nothing, and they fell into silence.

It was when they had almost arrived at school that Reborn spoke again. "Do you have a crush on Sasagawa Kyoko?" asked Reborn, genuinely curious. It didn't seem like Tsuna did at first, but Reborn wasn't so sure anymore after the boy blushed. And there was also that whole 'unreadable mind' thing which convinced the infant to just be blunt and get it over with. The brunet raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you know that?" he asked skeptically.

Reborn smirked. "You catch on fast Tsuna. But I don't know. I've been with you for only a total of 28 hours excluding the times one of us was asleep and three-fourths of that was spent on training."

"Well, what do you think the answer is?" Tsuna asked. Apparently, this brunet wanted to test the hit man's capabilities.

"I'd think that it would be better for you to answer my question."

Tsuna grumbled and shot a glare at the hit man. "I don't know. I don't understand feelings like those." Actually, Tsuna was pretty sure that he had at least a bit of feelings for the girl. After all, who could not fall in love with that innocent smile of hers?

Reborn smirked. "I'm guessing that you do."

That was a correct assumption.

Reborn had seen teenagers in love before. At first, they were indifferent and confused about their feelings. But once they realized, they became a blushing, stuttering mess. They were just like Bianchi.

Tsuna was like that just now.

But was it enough proof?

"You like Sasagawa Kyoko." Reborn stated. The tips of Tsuna's ears reddened and he said nothing to deny what the tutor just said. "Don't you want to ask her out?" Reborn said a beat later just as the neared the school gates.

There was a crowd in front of the gate. Tsuna couldn't see clearly what had grabbed the attention of so many people but he decided to himself that he didn't want to be involved. The students would clear out anyway when Hibari Kyoya appeared to bite everyone to death.

"No," Tsuna answered to Reborn's question. "She's seeing Mochida-senpai anyway."

"Is that so?"

Tsuna nodded absently as he tried to push through the crowd to get into the school. The crowd was very powerful, however. Before he could even make it two steps in, he was already pushed back out. He decided to try again, ducking elbows and all that. Before he knew it, he was back where he started.

Tsuna was a bit annoyed this time. Weren't all these people afraid of the Disciplinary Committee leader? As he once again entered the crowd, this time with a bit more force so as not to get pushed back out, he finally understood how people felt buying lunch in their cafeteria.

It was so scary. Everyone was fighting to get to the front to see what was going on. He could feel people squeezing in from all sides. He almost wheezed from the lack of air but he was more focused on trying to dodge hands, elbows, and feet. Tsuna mentally cursed Reborn.

The baby was damned lucky he didn't have to go to school. It seemed as if the entire student body had teamed up to block the school gates. The brunet had felt the impending doom the moment he saw the crowd, and his tutor had slipped off to who-knows-where.

Tsuna was in the spot behind the front liners when it happened. His dame-ness, gone for so many hours, but probably going to haunt him for life, returned.

Tsuna tripped.

When his foot got tangled with some other person's, he quickly tried to yank it out. He was so close! But then as soon as his foot was freed, his other completely lost balance from the force and he flailed. He'd expected to crash into a person. When he didn't, he looked behind him, confused, and saw that no one was in front of him to break his fall. In the center, receiving all that attention, was Sasagawa Kyoko and Kensuke Mochida. It seemed like Mochida was about to ask her out too.

Why oh why did this have to happen to him?

He literally flew in and landed right between the two of them. Then, silence ensued.

Tsuna looked up from where he had face-planted and rubbed his sore nose. On one side, Kyoko was blinking at him curiously. On the other, Mochida was eyeing him murderously.

Tsuna mentally sobbed. Why did everything hate him so much?!

Laughter erupted at Tsuna's fantastic act. "Wow! He really lives up to his name! No-good Tsuna!" he heard someone say. The brunet flushed. Before he could get up and escape, Mochida had him by his collar.

"What do you think you're doing?" the senpai growled at him. "You just destroyed my moment with Kyoko!"

Tsuna opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off before he could even say anything. He noticed, however, how the crowd was subtly edging away slightly from the angry teen.

"I know! You're jealous aren't you? That's why you disrupted my talk with Kyoko! You want to have her all to yourself! Well, it's too bad, but that's not going to happen! I'll challenge you to a fight right now! Whoever beats the other down first will get Kyoko!" declared the older teen. Some students cheered as he pulled out his shinai.

Tsuna almost face-palmed. How had things turned to this? He hadn't even intended to trip! All he wanted was to get into the school.

"Tsuna, catch!" Yamamoto yelled from the side as he threw another shinai at him. Tsuna caught it clumsily with two hands. By this time, Kyoko had wisely left the area to join the spectators.

So what were they doing again? Oh right. Whoever beats the other first wins. Wonderful. Tsuna didn't even know how to fight! Maybe he'll get lucky randomly swinging his weapon around.

Oh who was he kidding? Mochida was the captain of the kendo club! There was no way he was going to win!

The older teen got into a stance Tsuna had seen many people in the kendo club use before. The brunet held his own shinai awkwardly with his feet apart while eyeing the other warily. Before anyone moved, a horrified voice sailed over.

"Hibari-san's here! Let's go before he bites us to death!"

The upperclassman faltered before glaring at Tsuna again. "I'll be waiting at the gym later." He said icily. Then he turned and fled with the other students. Angry as he was with Tsuna, even Mochida wasn't suicidal enough to want to face Hibari Kyoya. At least, not yet.

The brunet sighed. He gathered up his bag and shinai and headed into school. He'd give Yamamoto's shinai (come to think of it, why did the baseball player have one?) back in class. Right now, he needed to figure out how to escape the challenge he was unluckily faced with.

XXX

Fortunately, he got into class without being found out by the head prefect while only receiving a handful of stares from people. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to come up with an escape plan for after school where he would surely be dragged to the gym because everyone loved to see humiliation.

He saw Reborn all day in weird hiding places. He'd probably built a system inside the school too, to spy on Tsuna.

When the last bell for the day rang, Tsuna made his way out of the classroom sulkily. How was he going to escape having to fight the kendo club captain? Maybe he could camp out in the bathroom… no, it would be easier to find him that way…

While Tsuna was contemplating ways to flee from the match, a bunch of guys spotted him and practically kidnapped him and marched him to the gym.

The boy looked around. Almost everyone in school was there to watch. Kensuke Mochida was already in his kendo gear, with a smug smirk plastered on his face. Another guy behind him looking equally evil held two colored flags in a hand. Tsuna was sure he was one of Mochida's cronies. He would never win! The older teen pointed his shinai at Tsuna.

"There you are!" he said. "I thought you ran away already! God may forgive a piece of trash like you but I won't! I'll pulverize you!" He said. He pointed towards the armor on the floor but Tsuna shook his head.

"You're going to fight without armor? Alright then! We'll see who's better for Kyoko!" he declared loudly. Some guy at the side gave him a shinai. It was a lot heavier than the one from this morning. He could barely even lift it. Tsuna was sure this was a trap. Even worse, Kyoko and her best friend, Kurokawa Hana were watching. He'd look so lame in front of the entire school! Just perfect.

Mochida was explaining the rules now.

"Don't worry," he was saying. "It's an easy match that even someone as no-good as you can understand. Since you're a novice at kendo, if you get a point off me in the next ten minutes, then you win! If you can't, then I win!"

Tsuna's head was spinning. What counted as a point again? He didn't remember. He was too busy staring at the silhouette of what looked to be Reborn in hopes of some help.

"The prize is, of course," the kendo captain pointed his shinai at Kyoko in a smug and confident manner.

"Sasagawa Kyoko!"

The moment Tsuna heard this, his mind blanked. He only had a _mild _(or at least that's what he believes) crush towards Kyoko, but even she did not deserve to be treated like an item.

"P-prize?" he heard the girl stutter.

"What a jerk," Hana sniffed, and Tsuna wholeheartedly agreed. "I hope he loses."

Making up his mind, Tsuna cautiously picked up the heavy shinai again, ignoring the pile of armor on the floor because he knew it was also a trap.

"You're seriously not going to put on armor?" Mochida asked incredulously, then shrugged. "Whatever, it's your loss."

"You know, you really shouldn't treat people like objects." Tsuna said quietly.

Reborn watched Tsuna's change in demeanor silently from above with binoculars. He could see how angry his student was at his opponent for calling someone a prize. Not surprisingly, most of the students gathered there did not notice this, but he saw someone who did.

Yamamoto Takeshi had tensed.

'_Hm. He could become a member of Tsuna's family.' _Thought Reborn before returning to the fight.

Tsuna and Mochida did nothing but stare at each other for the next twenty seconds. Then, Tsuna bended his knees and started trying to attack, launching himself at the kendo captain. Tsuna raised his shinai with struggle and brought it down but was calmly blocked by Mochida. The older teen swung his own towards Tsuna which was blocked, but the force of the attack and the weight of Tsuna's shinai caused the brunet to fall unceremoniously on his back. The shinai landed on the brunet's chest, knocking out the air in his lungs and dazing him momentarily. Mochida was closing in on him, about to strike, when he saw it.

There was a flash of something off to the side, but it moved too quickly for him to see it clearly. Tsuna blinked. When he next opened his eyes, a red bullet was coming straight at him. He even thought he could hear Reborn speak.

"_It's Dying Will time."_

XXX

Reborn had seen it coming.

The moment he saw his student angry, he knew that the Dying Will bullet would definitely work. So he prepared his rifle, which already had a Dying Will bullet in it, took aim and shot accurately at his student's forehead in less than five seconds.

Well, he wasn't the ultimate hit man for nothing.

The shell of the bullet split, and something red shot into Tsuna's forehead. His head fell back down before he heard the voices.

_"I'm going to die."_

_"What a waste."_

_"If I had the will of the dying, maybe…"_

_"Maybe I could have beaten Mochida-senpai."_

XXX

In the eyes of the spectators, he just randomly dozed off, tore his clothes off, and yelled "REEEEEEEBOOOOOOORN! I'LL GET IPPON WITH MY DYING WILL!" really loudly before proceeding to attack vigorously.

Tsuna managed to get ippon by landing a strike to the captain's head ten seconds into Dying Will Mode, but the referee didn't raise his red flag so he head-butted the next strike made by the captain which caused the bamboo weapon to actually break. He landed on the kendo captain and grabbed a fistful of the older teen's hair.

"I'VE WON!" he yelled at the referee, trying to get him to raise the flag, but the boy refused to do so. He pulled the fistful of hair, leaving a bald spot on Mochida's head. But the boy still refused to raise his flag.

Tsuna continued pulling out fistfuls of the captain's hair until there was none left. The referee, fearing for the teen's life, wisely decided to raise Tsuna's flag and declare him as the winner.

Mochida lay on the floor, tears running down his face at the thought of his defeat and his new haircut while the spectators gaped, then cheered loudly for the no-good student.

Reborn frowned for the umpteenth time that day when the flame on Tsuna's forehead died.

'_It's only been three minutes.'_

* * *

**A/N: Merry Christmas guys! :D (is it already 25 in your timezone?) Anyway, longest chapter I've done. Ever. Almost 4000 words which is something because I'm crap at descriptions and really blunt. (Did you notice most of my chapters don't even reach 2500 words?)**

**Again, no promised updates. But I won't be leaving you for half a year. Unless I get into an accident or something… **this is really easier to write compared to Chained Away which I'm having writer's block with so don't expect anything soon.

This stupid writer's block for my other story because idk about Estraneo. Kill me. But I'm definitely not gonna drop the story. You guys are gonna just have to put up with my sucky writing XP

**I'm sorry if there are errors! Review? :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**WARNINGS: **AU-ish(?), OOC-ness, Reborn being confused

**I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN!**

* * *

Tsuna had stayed behind to clean up the gym after the battle because Mochida was incapacitated for the time being. He was alone, sweeping the floor when the door opened. Yamamoto Takeshi sauntered in with his cheerful grin.

"Help has arrived!" he exclaimed as he closed the door and walked over to where Tsuna was as he too, began to sweep the floor.

"Yamamoto-san? What are you doing here?"

Yamamoto laughed sheepishly as he stopped what he was doing to rub the back of his head. "I thought you would need some help cleaning up the gym." He said simply.

Tsuna nodded. He didn't really know what to say as he had spent most of his life being relatively invisible. He didn't know how to have a proper conversation with people.

The two returned to cleaning up the gym in silence. As they were putting back the supplies in the closet, Yamamoto spoke again.

"Hey Tsuna," he hesitated, before grinning uncertainly. Tsuna noticed this. "You were pretty awesome today. We've been classmates since elementary, but this is the first time I've seen you stand up for something."

The brunet reddened. This was the first time someone other than his mom had complimented him. "Oh… Thanks, I guess. You're pretty amazing yourself too, Yamamoto-san. I mean, your baseball skills are incredible."

Yamamoto's eyes dimmed slightly, but he quickly replaced his happy mask on his face. "Aww, don't say it like that, Tsuna." He flashed a grin at the other that didn't quite reach his eyes. Then he drooped entirely, as if he was suddenly tired. "But you know, my average has been dropping lately. And I don't just mean my grades. My baseball is going downhill too. Lately, I haven't been able to play properly. Tsuna, what do you think I should do?"

Tsuna squeaked and froze. "Y-you're asking m-me?"

"You seem to be pretty dependable lately, so I thought I could ask you." He turned to face the brunet. Tsuna only just then realized how desperate the baseball idol's eyes were. "That day when I almost hit you with the baseball, I was already in a slump. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get back up."

Tsuna was in a bit of shock. After all, it wasn't everyday that the most popular boy would come up to him and ask for advice. But even if Tsuna was ecstatic about it, it didn't mean he knew what he was supposed to say to that.

"I-I… Y-you could… I don't know, put more effort in it, I guess. I mean, maybe you should try harder..?" he squeaked the last part out; unsure of what he was saying. Something in his gut was telling him that what he was saying was a terrible idea, but he could not think of anything else to say.

To his amazement, Yamamoto immediately brightened. "Yeah, that's what I thought too! I guess I just needed someone else to say it, ahaha! Thanks, Tsuna! I'll go train now, bye!" Then he ran out the door, leaving a completely bemused Tsuna to wonder what just happened.

XXX

Reborn was sitting on Tsuna's bed calmly as he polished his rifle almost mechanically. His mind was wandering back to his student's battle earlier today.

Since it had been the first bullet, Reborn made sure to keep track of the effects it had on the boy; whether there were side-effects, allergic reactions, incompatibilities, he kept a close eye. It wouldn't do well if something went wrong now, would it?

As he counted three minutes and the flag was finally raised, the Dying Will flame disappeared almost immediately. This greatly confused and worried Reborn. Either there was something wrong with the bullet, or there was something wrong with the boy. Maybe both. In any case, he needed to report this to the Ninth. And interrogate Tsuna.

As he put away his weapon, the door opened to reveal his student. Leon shifted into a gun, and he immediately pointed it at the boy.

"Reborn, dinnertime－why are you pointing that gun at me?"

"What do you know about the flames?" he asked bluntly.

"Can't you do that after dinner? I don't want to keep mom waiting."

Reborn tilted his head almost innocently. "So you know what I'm saying?" he asked.

Tsuna scowled. "I know an interrogation when I see one."

Reborn shrugged lightly. "Later then. I wouldn't want to keep Mama waiting. But if you think you can escape, then I'll have to teach you how stupid you are for even thinking that." Leon shifted back into his chameleon form and climbed on Reborn's hat. The infant hopped off the bed and headed downstairs.

XXX

_After dinner, in Tsuna's room…_

"Speak." Reborn commanded as he trained the gun between his student's eyes. Tsuna wasn't going to get away this time.

Tsuna crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance. "What do you want to know?"

"Flames. What do you know about them?" Reborn was at least fifty percent sure that the brunet more or less knew something about them. But he couldn't be too sure yet. If he judged by Tsuna's reaction when he heard Reborn say it, then he _definitely_ knew something.

"Flames?" Tsuna repeated with a tilt of his head. "Like the fire that appeared on my head when you shot me? What was that about, anyway? Shooting me out of nowhere? What if I didn't have any regrets?"

Reborn stared evenly into chocolate brown eyes. "I'm a hit man." He paused to let his words sink in. Tsuna screeched seconds later.

"I would have died?!"

"Don't change the subject, my no-good student. Yes, that 'fire' is called a flame. A Dying Will Flame, to be exact. What do you know about it?"

"Not all that much, to be honest. They appeared once when I was five, before dad and grandfather visited." He stated vaguely. He seemed to be trying to get into his memories from back then, with the dazed expression on his face and all that.

"And?" Reborn prompted.

"If what I remember is correct, then I was alone at the park that day it happened. Mom left me there for a while to go visit a friend who just gave birth since children aren't allowed in the hospital. I was playing on the swings when it went too high and I flew off the seat. I was actually going to crash into a tree and break my neck. Then before I knew it, I was on the floor and the tree was on fire. I'm really not sure what happened that time, but I know my hands had flames when I next opened my eyes."

Reborn stored this information away in a part of his head. Without changing his grip on the gun or shifting targets, he asked again, "And what did you do about it? Did you tell anyone?"

"No. I didn't do anything about it."

"Did it happen again?"

Tsuna thought for a while. "Yeah, it did. One time I was thrown into a well by some bullies and almost drowned. I don't exactly know how, but I got out of the well, and my hands had flames again."

Reborn frowned slightly. None of these were mentioned in the reports the spies stationed in Namimori had given him. It made Reborn furious, honestly. They had been there for such a long time and they didn't even notice? And they still call themselves part of the number one Famiglia? "Are these the only two times?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, no. It happens really rarely though, about twice a year at most. They mostly come out when I'm in trouble or something like that. And usually, before it happens, I'd always hear this voice speaking to me."

"Voice?"

"Yeah," Tsuna sighed. "I don't know…the voice doesn't seem malicious or anything. It's kind of peaceful and comforting, in fact."

Reborn glared at his student. "How do you know whether it's malicious or not?"

"Because of my gut feeling?" the brunet said unsurely. At his tutor's unimpressed look, he crossed his arms defiantly and pouted. "I can just tell, okay!"

Reborn stared for two seconds. _'Is this the famed Vongola Hyper Intuition?' _This was interesting. Reborn was pleased that he wouldn't have to agonize over making him activate his intuition. But there were still more pressing matters to attend to.

"Then you already know how to control your flames?"

Tsuna tilted his head again. "No? Um well, not really. I know how to make it go away, if that's what you mean. But I don't know anything beyond that."

"I see… so that's why."

"That's why what?"

"When I shot you, you only stayed in Dying Will mode for three minutes when it should have been five."

Tsuna blinked. "I…wasn't aware of that. I mean, the flames usually have already gone away by the time I'm safe."

Reborn frowned and lowered his gun. "Do your homework. I'm going out for a while." Tsuna blinked in confusion. "Where are you going?"

"Out for a walk. Finish your homework by the time I get back." He ordered. Tsuna nodded, bemused, but did as told. Reborn hopped out the window and disappeared into the shadows of the night.

'_I need to report to the Ninth about this.'_

XXX

Tsuna was up at five in the morning drinking coffee.

'_Am I going crazy?' _he wondered to himself. He wasn't a morning person. He loved his bed very much, and it always took one of Reborn's crazy methods (or his healthy fear of the Namimori Disciplinary Committee) to wake him up.

And he definitely never drank coffee before.

But Tsuna couldn't sleep. He had been tossing and turning the whole night, unable to catch some rest. He felt uneasy the entire night, as if he somehow knew something big was going to happen soon. Something bad.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes and took another sip from the cup in his hands. There was no point trying to go to bed now, he would still be unable to sleep. Besides, school started in a few hours so why not get ready now, ungodly an hour as it is?

Tsuna downed the rest of the coffee in one gulp and headed over to the sink to wash it. After he got that done with, he brought out some eggs and a pan. Since he was up so early, he might as well cook breakfast _and_ lunch. That way, his mother would be able to relax a while before doing household chores again.

A sharp pain coursed through his body suddenly and he dropped the pan he had been holding with a loud _CLANG! _on the floor.

Tsuna dropped on his knees and clutched his head as voices and blurry images filtered into his mind.

"_Yamamoto, stop!"_

"_Takeshi-sama please don't do this!"_

_A blurry face with black hair. A small smile._

"_Goodbye…everyone…"_

"_NOOOOO!"_

Tsuna snapped back into reality with a gasp. _'What was that?' _Tsuna knew that Reborn knew stuff. And he wanted to ask his tutor, but he couldn't because he still wasn't back from his 'walk.'

Tsuna didn't know what to make of that vision. Was it a dream? Was it something that had happened sometime, somewhere? Was it the cause of the uneasiness he kept feeling? What were the voices trying to stop 'Yamamoto' from?

No matter how much the brunet had thought about the feeling during the night, he couldn't find an answer for it. All he could do was wait and see what would unfold.

He finished cooking and packed his bento before stuffing it into his school bag. Minutes later, he heard Nana's footsteps coming down the stairs. The woman stepped into the kitchen with a yawn.

"It smells so nice," she mumbled sleepily while rubbing her eyes. Tsuna smiled at the action. It seemed she wasn't as lively in the morning as she seemed to be, after all.

"Tsu-kun? Is that you? What are you doing up so early?"

"I uh, I couldn't sleep. I already made breakfast, by the way."

Nana beamed and went to hug her only son. "Oh my, Tsu-kun, that's so thoughtful of you! You haven't eaten yet, right? Come on! Let's eat breakfast together!"

Tsuna blinked then smiled. It had been far too long since the last time he had managed to eat breakfast with his mom.

XXX

It was raining outside.

There weren't a lot of people when Tsuna arrived at school since it was still early, but by the time the bell that signaled classes were about to start rang, the absence of Yamamoto Takeshi made the uneasy feeling return.

As the students started dispersing to head back to their seats, a boy slammed the door open with a panicked look on his face.

"YAMAMOTO IS ABOUT TO JUMP FROM THE ROOF!"

The class collectively gasped. "No way!"

"That's not a funny joke, dude! Knock it off!" some guy yelled.

The boy shook his head. "It's not a joke! Yamamoto's really about to commit suicide! Come on! We got to go stop him!" he exclaimed. The class as a whole rushed out of the room.

Tsuna was frozen in his seat as horror struck him. Yamamoto…about to jump…?

"_Yamamoto, stop!"_

"_Takeshi-sama please don't do this!"_

_A blurry face with black hair. A small smile._

"_Goodbye…everyone…"_

"_NOOOOO!"_

Had this been what that vision had been trying to tell him? That Yamamoto Takeshi was trying to commit suicide? But why? For what reason?

The brunet's eyes trailed to the door slowly as he debated whether he should go up as well. It wasn't as if there was anything he could do if he did, but Yamamoto had specifically asked _him_ yesterday. Tsuna wasn't sure if he'd made contact with anyone else after him, but for all he knew, it could be _him_ that caused the baseball idol to want to kill himself.

Tsuna bit his lip as he stood from his seat. No matter what, Yamamoto was still one of the first people to ever make contact (in a good way) with him.

"Sawada-kun, let's go!" Kyoko's angelic voice drifted into his thoughts. He looked up and belatedly realized that she hadn't left yet.

"Y-yeah!" he stuttered as they ran out the room up to the roof.

XXX

Yamamoto was standing on the edge of the school roof, not behind the safety of the old wire fence like most of the rest of the students were doing. It was raining, so the ledge was slippery, but he didn't care.

His right arm was in a sling. There was a smile on his face, but looking closer, you could see dark shadows under his eyes.

"Don't do this, Yamamoto! You're taking it too far!" someone from the crowd said.

Yamamoto tilted his head towards the general direction of the voice with a smile on his face. "Really? I don't think so. After all, if I don't have my arm, I can't play baseball."

The students did not have an answer to that, but they didn't stop calling out to him, trying to stop him. None of them stood within a meter of the edge of the roof.

Tsuna tried to see above the heads of the numerous student gathered around. He cursed silently at his height. '_Why do I have to be so short?!' _he thought in dismay. Then, _'Actually, why is everyone taller than me?!'_

"Why is Yamamoto doing this?" A boy whispered from beside him. His companion grimaced. "I heard he practiced too much yesterday and ended up breaking his arm."

Tsuna panicked. _'So it really _is_ my fault! I should hide from him.' _But it seemed like fate was against him today. The pushing and shoving of his classmates brought him to the front line.

And it didn't help that he was feeling so guilty.

And Tsuna always just _had_ to set things right whenever he felt guilty. So he stepped forward.

"Y-Yamamoto-san?" he stammered weakly. Doing anything in front of his classmates made him feel dizzy. The crowd silenced as they watched to see what the infamous Dame-Tsuna would do.

To his surprise, Yamamoto turned around. "Tsuna?" he blinked. "Have you come to try and stop me as well? Don't bother." He smiled and faced away from the students again. "I'm pretty lame, aren't I? Even 'Dame-Tsuna' pities me now that the baseball god has thrown me aside."

Tsuna's eyes widened a fraction and he stepped forward and away from the line their classmates unwittingly made. "No, Yamamoto-san, I'm not! I just," he stepped closer to the baseball idol and lowered his voice slightly so their classmates could not hear. "I know you feel awful about your arm and how you can't play baseball with it, but I think you're taking it too far."

Yamamoto looked confused and frustrated. "Why are you telling me something everyone's already said minutes ago?"

Tsuna shifted uncomfortably. "About yesterday, why did you ask me for advice?" he asked instead of answering.

"Because I thought you would understand. As someone who is no-good at anything, I thought we would be the same, and that maybe you could tell me just how exactly you cope with all these things.

"Yesterday, I put all my effort into training hard for the upcoming match this season and ended up breaking my arm. Baseball was the only thing I had, and it's gone now. And you think I'm going too far?"

Tsuna blanched. "No! You and I are different, so…"

"Different?" Yamamoto's eyes shadowed. "And here I thought you could have been my friend."

"…I know that the reason you broke your arm is because of what I said yesterday and I sincerely apologize for that. I didn't think before answering. It was wrong for me to tell you to just put in more effort, and it was wrong for me to believe you were fine."

"Then what did you mean when you said we are different? Aside from baseball, there is nothing I'm good at as well."

Tsuna gave him a somber smile. "Because unlike you, Yamamoto-san, I've never put any effort into things. I truly have nothing other than my mom. But you still have your friends and your family. Your arm will heal, and you'll be able to play baseball again. You just need to give it time."

Yamamoto gaped.

"If you die now, you'll regret not waiting for your arm to heal. If there is a baseball God up there, then he'll be really stupid to just throw away such a great player like you." Tsuna gave him a sincere smile. "Come back to us?" he asked, extending a hand.

Yamamoto blinked. Then he broke into a wide grin as he laughed. "Ahaha! As I thought, you are an amazing person, Tsuna!" He gripped the metal fence and prepared to jump. But as he moved, the wetness from the rain made him lose his footing, and everyone watched in horror as he slipped from the ledge. His good arm reached blindly for something－_anything__－_ to grab onto.

He caught Tsuna's arm.

The force of gravity caused Tsuna to pitch forward, and he crashed right through the fence as it was old and rusty.

Everyone screamed when the baseball idol and the class loser fell.

Yamamoto widened his eyes as he realized what he just did. He was dragging Tsuna to his death with him!

'_No. No, no, no, no, no. He just saved me from making a stupid mistake and now…'_

He realized they were just dangling in midair. He looked up and saw Tsuna's other hand clinging tightly to the edge of the concrete. It probably hurt, but he was gripping Yamamoto's hand tightly so as not to let him fall instead of dropping him and using it to pull himself up.

Despite Yamamoto's wishes, his hand closed tightly around Tsuna's small ones as his heart gave way to fear. "Tsuna…"

"D-don't let go, Yamamoto-san." Tsuna said through clenched teeth. Their hands were slipping from their positions but neither let go. "I just need to find a foothold…"

Their classmates screamed as the ledge cracked from their weight. The two teens slipped from their sights as they fell to their impending doom.

Yamamoto tried to brace against the wall to slow their fall, but his broken arm wasn't really helping him a lot. Tsuna was still holding onto his wrist as the ground approached. Yamamoto closed his eyes. '_I shouldn't have dragged Tsuna into this…'_

But he wasn't falling anymore. He felt a pair of arms wrap around him, carrying him bridal style, and an oddly comfortable warmth seeping through him. He cracked an eye open just in time to see Tsuna launch from the wall into the tree.

What shocked him, however, were his eyes. Yamamoto was sure it wasn't just a trick of the light behind the brunet.

Tsuna's eyes were glowing orange.

"T-Tsuna..?"

The brunet said nothing as they landed on a large branch. He placed Yamamoto beside the trunk. The students on the roof were gaping as a teacher approached the tree the two were on.

"Yamamoto Takeshi, Sawada Tsunayoshi. I heard what happened from the students. I think we should get the both of you to a hospital－"

"No need," a squeaky voice piped up. Tsuna turned to gaze at the tiny figure that looked suspiciously like Reborn. Yamamoto noted that his eyes were back to the chocolate brown color he was familiar with.

The baby was dressed in a professor's robe, complete with glasses and a hat. The teacher looked shocked to see him. "Professor Boreen!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"A trip to the hospital won't be necessary," Reborn said, completely ignoring the teacher's question. "I believe a short break from school is all they need. I doubt Yamamoto will attempt suicide again."

The teacher looked at him doubtfully since Professor Boreen was a math professor and not a psychologist. The baby smirked at him. "I have a degree on that as well," he held up a framed certificate for proof.

"O-of course, Professor Boreen. I shall inform the principal of this and send them home… Yamamoto, Sawada, go to the infirmary for now."

The two teens did as instructed while the teacher sweat dropped at Reborn's smirk.

"Tsuna," Yamamoto said as the two went back into the school building. "What happened? Your eyes suddenly turned orange."

"…"

Yamamoto sweat dropped. "Er…okay, I won't push if you don't want to talk about it." Then he grinned. "Anyway, thanks for saving me! I don't know how you did it, but I'm really grateful!"

Tsuna shrugged. "It was my fault to begin with… Don't try to do that again." He shuddered at the memory of the two of them falling from the roof. The image that came after－what would have happened if Tsuna hadn't saved them－made his stomach give out a sickening growl.

The baseball idol blinked, and then grinned again. "I won't throw away the life you gave me just like that! Ahaha! Why don't you come over to our shop this afternoon－Tsuna, are you alright? You look a little green."

The brunet flapped a hand in front of his own face. "I'm fine, I'm fine." He said. Then in a softer voice, muttered lowly to himself, "Why must I have this kind of gory imagination?"

"We're here!" Yamamoto said loudly as he opened the door to the infirmary. "Huh? Where's the nurse?"

"She went out to get medical supplies." A squeaky voice put in. The teen turned around and was met with the sight of Professor Boreen. "Just go lay down for a while."

"Thanks! And you really look like a kid I saw…"

Reborn just smirked as Tsuna gave him a deadpan stare.

XXX

_Wake up._

_Wake up._

_Wake up, Tsuna._

_It's time to go._

_Wake the hell up, Dame-Tsuna._

Cue Leon Hammer.

Tsuna sat up and rubbed his sore nose, all the while giving Reborn a dirty look. The infant smirked and pointed a green gun that Tsuna suspected was Leon at him. "You can sleep again when we get home."

The brunet rubbed his bleary eyes. "What time is it?"

"Around noon," Yamamoto grinned from his position beside Tsuna's bed. "You'll be sleepier if you stay in bed so late, haha!"

"Noon? Already?"

"You kept on sleeping after you got away from the roof. I've got your excuse slips so go home before anyone changes their mind." Reborn said as he held up two papers. "Go home and sleep. You'll need it,"

Tsuna looked at Reborn doubtfully as Yamamoto grinned at him, but he nodded and headed for the door. He knew he would be questioned by Reborn when he finished whatever it was that he was doing. And Tsuna knew for sure that this time, it wouldn't be easy to explain anything.

* * *

A/N: Update at last! But it's not been that long, I think. Anyway. Not really sure about them, but I've got an idea of what's going to happen in the next few chapters. Should I finish typing every single chapter before putting them up? ….Probably not, lol.

Thanks for reading! Leave a review?


	6. Chapter 5

Haiiiii~~~ has it been long? XD Less words today than the last two chapters, but it's okay I guess, since I think it's making progress. The story I mean. I wanted to include Gokudera already in this chapter but I'm running out of time since I'm not gonna be around for two months or something? Sorry. I'll try my best to get chapters written and planned out while I'm gone though, so no worries. Please enjoy~

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I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN! All rights belong to Akira Amano.

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Note: I sort of alter between Yamamoto and Takeshi throughout the chapter so look out for that.

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"Oh, Tsu-kun you're back! Are you alright? I got a call from school—"

Tsuna turned to face his mom with bags under his eyes. "'Sup." He slurred. Nana blinked confusedly. Reborn smirked in amusement.

"He's alright, mama. He just needs to sleep. He's very tired right now." explained the baby. He dragged the boy up the stairs and gave Nana a reassuring shake of the head. As soon as he reached the room, he kicked the door open and tossed Tsuna who was already snoring onto his bed.

He climbed atop his hammock and opened the suitcase he had brought with him and took out a few sheets of paper to examine the words written on them. All the papers were letters but Reborn couldn't decide which on was the best.

_Nono-_

_I have some urgent matters to discuss with you concerning Iemitsu's son. He has the potential but he seems a little strange to me. I might need to have a look any at other information you have on him._

_-R_

This one seemed to be the best, Reborn decided. But he didn't send it. He needed to speak to the Ninth _personally_ so that it would be easier.

He shook his head and looked at another paper.

_Iemitsu-_

_You idiot. Your son is nothing like you reported. I think you've been away from your family far too long. You should have just accepted that vacation the Ninth offered you and spent some time with your family instead._

_-R_

This one, he sent. He tied the paper to the leg of his carrier pigeon and sent it off. Leon turned into a paper shredder and Reborn destroyed all the other drafts he had written.

He jumped out the window and headed to a secluded place where he could make phone calls without being overheard. He was sure the Ninth would tell him to just continue training the kid, but he needed to report this anyway.

XXX

"Dad?" Yamamoto slid open the door with a little bit of worry. The sign outside their shop read "CLOSED" which was strange since they were always open at rush hour. He hoped nothing bad had happened to his dad.

It was dark inside the shop. Yamamoto put down his bag and flicked on the switch of the light so that he could see. There was no one at the tables but his dad was behind the counter, chopping something almost mechanically. His face was blank and he did not look up from his work.

"Pops?" Yamamoto said worriedly. Yamamoto Tsuyoshi did not do anything.

"Dad?" he tried again after a few seconds.

Tsuyoshi finally shifted. He put his knife down and looked at his son with an unreadable gaze.

"I got a call from school today, Takeshi."

XXX

Reborn stared at the Leon cell phone in his hand. _'Should I call?' _he wondered. Leon's long-distance calling feature did not last long. If he called, they would only have five minutes. Not nearly enough for a thorough discussion, but enough to just inform Timoteo about his student and have him dwell on it for a while.

Oh well. He dialed the Ninth's personal cell phone number and waited as the line connected.

"Reborn," said Timoteo. "It's been a while. Are you calling on the Leon phone?"

Reborn smirked even though he knew the Ninth couldn't see it. "It hasn't been that long, and yes. I'm using Leon."

"Well, is there any problem? Or are you just calling to catch up?" the old man chuckled. If it was for catching up, Reborn wouldn't have used something that only lasted five minutes.

"Since this call is time-sensitive, I'm going to just cut to the chase. All those reports about Sawada Tsunayoshi were wrong. Well, most of it, at least."

"….What?"

"It's true that he doesn't have friends and that his grades are abysmal but the other things about him are all wrong. He doesn't have that much of a communication problem. He gets nervous around strangers but that's normal. He speaks to his classmates without stuttering much, unlike how Iemitsu told his story." Reborn frowned darkly. _That fool, he doesn't even know a single damned thing about his own son._

"He's being bullied and he doesn't fight back, but he doesn't show that he's that much of a coward. He's not _too _unathletic— nothing I can't fix—and he has strong morals. He doesn't hide under that weak, pathetic personality of his when he thinks something's wrong with the way a person thinks."

Timoteo nodded even though he knew the baby could not see him. "Doesn't that make it easier for you to tutor him then?"

"It might. But that's not the problem. When I first told him about the Dying Will bullet, he told me that he 'didn't regret'. Then some guy challenged him to a fight with a girl as the prize and he got angry and I knew then that he would regret so I shot him. Of course, since it was the first time, I had to track and record his changes and his stats. And right after the duel which lasted only three minutes, the Dying Will flame was extinguished.

"Last night, he claimed that he'd known about having flames since before you and Iemitsu visited. According to him, they appear when he's in extreme trouble; during life or death situations. And that he also doesn't remember anything he's done when he's in Dying Will mode. He told me that he always hears a voice speaking to him but he doesn't know who or what it is."

"Reborn—"

The infant's internal countdown hit zero and the line disconnected promptly. The call was over. Oh well, he'd said what he needed to. The rest would be up to his old friend to decide.

He checked the time on his wristwatch and decided to go buy a cup of espresso first. He would wake up Tsuna later for another interrogation.

XXX

"You should have told me if there was something wrong, you know." Tsuyoshi said as he placed a cup of water on the table. After giving his son a giant bear hug just to show how relieved he was that Takeshi was safe, he sat him down and got ready to chew him out.

Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that, pops. You seemed so busy lately so…"

"Hmph! I was busy all right! All because you weren't helping but were moping in your room instead!"

"Ahaha! I'm really sorry! I promise I'll help out more from now on!" he grinned. "And you don't have to worry about me doing anything stupid like that again because I'm going to treasure the life my friend gave me!"

Tsuyoshi took a sip from his cup. "Oh right, I almost forgot. Who is this friend of yours? I have to thank him. You should bring him here for sushi sometime!"

Takeshi gave him a wide grin. "I was just thinking the same thing. I think you'll like him."

XXX

"Dame-Tsuna, I think you've got some more explaining to do."

Tsuna yawned as he rubbed his eyes sleepily. It was around four in the afternoon. Tsuna had slept like a log when he crashed on his bed and it felt wonderful now that his sleep-deprived mind had recovered somewhat.

"What explaining? I already told you that those flames come out whenever I'm facing a life or death situation…"

Reborn rolled his eyes. "Not that, Dame-Tsuna. I'm sure you were aware that your eyes turned orange when it happened. You held back this piece of information from me, Dame-Tsuna. I think I should punish you for defying your tutor."

"I did not defy you!" Tsuna huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You never asked, and I didn't think it was anything important. I thought it was just a side effect of having those flames." Reborn sighed.

"Technically speaking, it _is _just a side effect, since it has zero contribution to your power. I do not know the actual reason your eyes change color. Vongola Primo, the first boss of Vongola's eyes also became orange like yours whenever he was in that mode." He took off his fedora and looked at Tsuna. "No one ever knew why his eyes became that way too."

"Well I don't know either, which is why I never mentioned it."

"How do you know your eyes become orange if you can't see them?"

"I saw myself in the water of the well I fell into."

Reborn nodded, seemingly satisfied, and placed his fedora back on his head. Then he smirked. "About that Yamamoto guy," Tsuna turned to look at him questioningly, "I want you to make him your subordinate."

The brunet gaped.

"What?"

"Make him your subordinate." Reborn repeated. "I'm sure you already suspected that I would say that, but I'm not going to just tell you to make random people your subordinates. If one wants to be a part of the strongest Famiglia, then one has to have skill and potential. That just means Yamamoto Takeshi has them."

Reborn knew that his student could grasp what he was implying. It was all very simple, just because Tsuna didn't want to make his classmate join his family, it wouldn't mean that Reborn wouldn't force the baseball star to.

"No," Tsuna shook his head. "I'm not going to ask him to join me."

Reborn tilted his head. "Why not?"

"Yamamoto is just a normal student. He doesn't have anything to do with the mafia, and I don't want to endanger him and his dad."

Reborn shrugged. "Not my loss," he says, and even then, Tsuna already knows that Yamamoto Takeshi would be dragged into the world of mafia, and consequently his father as well.

Before they continue any further discussion, they hear a knock at the door. "Be right there~" Nana sings from the kitchen as she happily dances over to the front door.

Sawada Nana was greeted with the sight of a tall black-haired boy when she opened the door. The boy blinked then grinned. "Good afternoon, ma'am. Does Tsuna live here?"

"Oh my," she beamed. "Are you a friend of Tsu-kun's? Oh I haven't seen him bring home a friend since he started preschool. He's upstairs in his room."  
"Oh, ahaha! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi by the way. I wanted to invite him to my dad's sushi shop! You should come too! Is Tsuna still asleep?"

"Oh, we would love to! I'll go call Tsu-kun. Come in and take a seat."

The woman set down a cup of tea in front of the tall boy before proceeding up the stairs, humming happily to herself all the while.

The new tutor was such a big help! It hadn't even been a week yet, and Tsuna already managed to meet a new friend. And such a polite and cheerful one at that!

"Tsu-kun~" she knocked softly before inching the door open and peeking inside. Seeing her son and his tutor just sitting around, she opened the door a little wider. "Your new friend just invited us to his sushi shop. Change your clothes and let's go! Reborn-kun too."

"New friend?" asked Tsuna in confusion. Nana giggled. "Oh, yes! Yamamoto Takeshi-kun, was it? Such a nice boy! Hurry now, Tsu-kun, we mustn't keep him waiting." She left and Reborn smirked.

"I told you so." He intoned. Tsuna scowled at him.

"I'm not going to ask him to join my family."

Reborn gave him a shadowed smirk, as if he knew all the secrets of the world that nobody else did. "Oh, but you will, Tsuna. Trust me."

XXX

"Welcome to Takesushi!" Yamamoto grinned as he slid the door open for his guests. The three stepped in and were ambushed by Tsuyoshi.

"Welcome! Have a seat and order anything you want. It's on the house!"

Nana blinked. "Huh? But we can't do that, Yamamoto-san—"

Tsuyoshi waved her complaint aside. "Yamamoto-san makes me sound old. Calling me Tsuyoshi is just fine, Sawada-san."

The woman pouted. "You'll have to call me Nana then, I don't want to be the only one sounding old." She crossed her arms, having already forgotten about her complaint. The sushi chef grinned.

"Alright!"

As soon as everyone was seated and as soon as they all made their order, Tsuyoshi and his son busied themselves cutting up fish and preparing sushi for their guests. Well, Tsuyoshi did at least. Takeshi could do nothing but fetch things with his arm still in a sling. Nana leaned over to whisper to Tsuna.

"Your friend is so nice. Why didn't you tell me that you've made a friend already?" she asked.

Tsuna blinked. "Eh? But he's not really my friend—"

"That's because Tsuna saved him when they fell from the school building." Reborn butt in before Tsuna could continue.

"That's right," a new voice said cheerily. Three heads turned simultaneously to look at the younger Yamamoto. He set down a plate of fatty tuna on the table. "I was being really stupid and almost fell to my death. If it weren't for Tsuna here, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the feeling of having a friend."

Nana immediately gushed. "Oh my Tsu-kun you never told me that you saved someone's life!"

Tsuna face-palmed and Reborn smirked. Nana was acting just like a fangirl, like she didn't just hear that two people almost died at school. But no one really minded it because if you looked at her face, you would see the smile of a proud mother.

XXX

After eating many servings of the two Yamamoto's delicious sushi, Nana had gone over to chat with Tsuyoshi while Takeshi had pulled a chair over to sit with Tsuna.

"Yamamoto," Reborn said. The boy in question tilted his head at Reborn.

"Hey. You're Tsuna's younger brother, right?" he asked.

Reborn shook his head. "I'm Tsuna's home tutor." He replied in amusement.

"Oh!" Yamamoto exclaimed. "Sorry about that, ahaha!" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "What did you need? Do you want more sushi?"

"No, not that. I wanted to ask you if you want to become a part of Tsuna's family."

"Family?"

"It's Tsuna's mafia family. He's the boss."

"Reborn," Tsuna interjected, "I'm not going to ask him to join the mafia!"

"Oh!" Takeshi laughed. "You're playing a mafia game! Let me join too, Tsuna!"

"Yamamoto…it isn't a game."

He blinked. "It isn't?"

Tsuna looked around the room. "Is there some place…you know, more private?" he asked in a low tone. Yamamoto nodded and stood up.

"Pops!" he called, "we're going up to my room!"

"Alright, but don't break anything!" Tsuyoshi replied. Takeshi shouted back an affirmation then began to lead the brunet and his tutor to the back of the shop.

"So you guys live here?" Tsuna asked as they passed the counter.

"We live upstairs," said Yamamoto. "Downstairs is entirely the sushi shop and up here is where we actually live," explained the baseball star.

Yamamoto slid open a wooden door to reveal his room. It wasn't that big, but it was spacious enough that it could fit around four or five people if he ever decided to have a sleepover.

Against one wall, there was a tiny bed that didn't even seem like it could fit the tall teen on it. Across that was a cabinet. There was a work desk a few feet from the bed and a low square table in the middle with a sitting cushion on each side. There were a few clothes and baseball magazines strewn about but Takeshi quickly picked them up and gestured for his two guests to sit on the cushions. He rolled up the clothes into a big pile, threw them on the bed, put the magazines on his work desk, and bounded over to sit with the two.

"So listen, Yamamoto. What I'm going to say isn't going to be a joke or some kind of game; it's the complete truth. I want you to make your final decision based on it, and I'll understand if you don't want to have anything to do with me anymore." Reborn nodded in approval. He had to admit that it was a good 'speech' for someone who never really made any contact with anyone before.

Yamamoto appeared to be confused. "Why would I do that?" he asked. Tsuna only gave him a grim smile.  
"Well, listen to this…" he proceeded to recount the things that happened beginning from the stupid tutoring ad. He told him about Reborn's real background as well as his own heritage, and the reason for the hitman being here. He told him everything he knew about the mafia with Reborn filling in any parts he missed.

When he finished, Takeshi was so silent that Tsuna had begun to fidget nervously. The baseball star had not said anything at all throughout Tsuna' story.

"Uh…Yamamoto..?"

All of a sudden, Yamamoto laughed, which kind of made Tsuna freak out. "Ahaha! Of course I'll still join you! You practically gave me this life. It's my job to protect yours with it. An eye for an eye, right?" he grinned.

Tsuna gaped. "Wha—Yamamoto, it's not as simple as that! When you go underground, that means you're putting everyone with even the slightest relation to you in danger! If you become a target for assassination, then your family and friends will become targets too." He removed his gaze from Yamamoto. "Any person that a member of the mafia associates himself or herself with will all become potential targets regardless of whether there is a deep connection or not."

There was a pregnant pause as the older boy thought about the matter. Tsuna had begun to fidget again while Reborn just stayed where he was seated with his arms crossed over his chest, face shadowed by his fedora.

"…"

"…I think I'll still join you after all. You've been training to get stronger right? Then I'll train too. My dad and I don't always think alike, but we do have the same mindset. I'm sure he would have wanted me to protect the person who gave me back my life. All I have to do is become strong enough to protect everyone around me, right?" he grinned goofily. "Besides, you said so yourself already. Anyone you associate with will become targets in the future. I think it would be more fun to fight for my life beside my friend than to completely cut off all ties and still be a target, don't you think?"

Reborn smirked. Well, it wasn't the answer he was looking for, but he supposed it would have to do. After all, this kid had no experience with these kinds of things as well. Hopefully, he would learn it later.

_Now that I've accomplished my first goal, maybe it's time to bring in a real Mafioso from Italy to test my dame-student._

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_**Next chapter: Gokudera Hayato**_

**Hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you thought? ;)**


	7. Chapter 6

**YES, I'M ALIVE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OCTOPUS-HEAD!**

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A teen with silver hair stepped out of the airport carrying nothing but a tiny battered luggage bag. A stick of cigarette between his lips burned as he glared at everything his eyes landed on. Passengers hurrying to their flights spared a second to glance at the emerald-eyed foreigner who was dressed simply in a loose polo shirt with the top unbuttoned and a pair of jeans and adorned many bracelets on both his wrists.

"So this is the home of the Vongola Tenth, huh?" He glared at a noisy child who was bothering his mother about some toy he saw in a gift shoppe. The child remained blissfully unaware of the murderous glare sent his way. He threw the cigarette on the ground and crushed it with a foot. "Pathetic," he murmured as he began his journey to Namimori Middle School.

XXX

Tsuna ignored the more than usual buzzing around the school. He had no interest in school gossip, and he definitely had no interest in getting bitten to death for being noisy.

As he passed by the students, he could overhear their discussion about an apparent new transferee. It was none of his business, so he shrugged, mentally thanking whoever it was for becoming such a big deal around school and keeping people from bothering to congratulate him on saving Yamamoto.

Tsuna passed by many students as he made his way to the classroom but all of them paid him no heed. As he entered the classroom, he realized too late that the gossiping was made much worse.

"I heard the new transfer student is going to be in our class!"

"I wonder if it's a boy or a girl~"

"Hey, I heard the transfer student is from Italy!"

Tsuna froze at the last one. Italy? Italy was usually where mafia mobs were seen on TV right..? Could the transfer student be a Mafioso? Tsuna attempted futilely to calm himself down. After all, it wasn't as if his tutor would sic an actual Mafioso on him, right? Or maybe that person was here, gunning for him out of his own free will…

Either way, both of those did not sit well with Tsuna, and he was panicking so much inwardly that he didn't even hear his classmates' cries of surprise and disbelief. If his gut feeling was to be trusted, then...

He was _so _going to die.

XXX

One homeroom later, Tsuna was absently pretending to sign his will as the teacher blabbered about their science project. He had pretty much resigned himself to his fate when the newly-introduced Gokudera Hayato had turned his death glare on him. He just hoped he would have time to write out his dying will and pass it on to a lawyer before he got killed by this person who by now he was sure was a Mafioso.

When lunch finally rolled around, the brunet felt as though two holes had gotten burned to the back of his head and he self-consciously reached up a hand to check. Relieved that he didn't find any, he grabbed his bento and headed to the school yard to eat.

The school yard had always been Tsuna's favorite place to eat for the fact that it was usually breezy and peaceful there. It was basically just an empty grassland with a large, old sakura tree in the middle, but it had always felt refreshing to him. He had always liked leaning on the trunk of the old, ancient tree. It gave him a warm feeling of protection and safety.

Halfway through his lunch, he tensed up as the ominous feeling that came from one Gokudera Hayato returned full force. This time, with practiced cautiousness, Tsuna set the bento aside and peeked slowly, nearly squeaking as his eyes settled on the silver-haired teen who'd just rounded the corner looking pissed off and ready to kill. He pressed his back to the tree trunk as much as he could and shut his eyes, hoping for the danger to pass. His wish was not granted, however.

"I won't accept someone pathetic like you as Vongola Decimo. Die!"

Suddenly, there was a stick of lit dynamite flying straight to his face. By instinct, Tsuna grabbed his lunch and rolled away just as the bomb exploded in mid-air.

"What the heck!" he yelled. Gokudera growled, sticking his hands into his pockets.

"Che, what a stupid weakling. As far as I have observed today, your academic prowess is barely acceptable, you have no social life, and you can't even fight for your life. If someone like you takes over the Vongola, it will be doomed."

He began his attacks again, throwing dynamite everywhere to block off any escape routes as Tsuna ran around like a headless chicken dodging dynamite. The brunet wondered why Hibari Kyoya wasn't there to bite them to death yet for disrupting the peace and damaging school property.  
"I'm the one who's fit to be the Tenth!" Gokudera declared dramatically as another two handfuls of dynamite appeared. "Double Dynamite!"

The bombs exploded right above Tsuna and covered most of the area in a thick cloud of smoke. '_That should have finished him off...'_

"What are you doing, Dame-Tsuna. I never allowed you to slack off." Reborn squeaked as he magically appeared on a tree branch.

"Wha—" the bomber spluttered, a bit put out by the fact that the brunet had managed to dodge his attacks once again. "Reborn-san!"

The infant smirked. "Don't be so surprised. After all, Tsuna _does _have Vongola blood."

Below the tree, Tsuna uncovered his face from his hands. "Reborn! You know this guy?"

"Of course," Reborn chirped matter-of-factly. "I was the one who called him over from Italy."

"Reborn-san, you weren't lying when you said I would be Vongola Decimo if I defeat this guy, right?" Gokudera cut in with his hands full of unlit dynamite as he eyed the pair warily.

"That is the rule," agreed Reborn with a nod of the head.

"What." Tsuna deadpanned. "You sent an actual mafioso to kill me?"

The hitman ignored the brunet. "He is known in Italy as 'Hurricane Bomb Hayato', known for his short temper and his use of explosives to blow up his enemies."

"YOU CRAZY BABY! YOU SENT SOMEONE TO BLOW ME UP?!"

Normally, anyone who called Reborn crazy would have already had a bullet in their brain. Fortunately for the brunet, the world's number one hit man was feeling amused instead of offended.

"If you get blown up, then that just means you're unworthy of being boss."

By this time, Gokudera had decided that he wasn't going to wait for them and had thrown his dynamites at Tsuna again. Tsuna ducked and began to run again. Yes, he was tired, but he valued his life dammit! He wanted to end their petty little fight, but he couldn't think of a way to do that without getting himself bombed to pieces in the process.

Tsuna ran around a corner and was forced to stop dead in his tracks as he met a dead end. behind him, Gokudera had caught up, his hands now with more explosives than before. He lit them with amazing speed and began throwing them.

"Triple Dynamite! DIE….?" he froze as a few slipped from his grasp and dropped to the ground under his feet. "I'm going to die..?"

A few paces away, Tsuna made a quick decision. Some of the air borne dynamite had reached him, and he had nowhere to run. The only way would be front, past all those lit dynamites. Tsuna knew he wasn't fast enough to not get hit by at least a few if he tried to escape, but if he was going to run away, then he might as well drag Gokudera along with him. With that, the brunet charged forward and launched himself at the bomber who had his eyes closed.

"Oof!"

Gokudera was pushed backwards onto the grass just as the dynamites near him exploded. The two boys rolled to a stop at the foot of the tree.

Both boys had a few burn marks here and there and a few cuts and scrapes. Additionally, their uniforms were tattered and slightly burnt.

'_It'll be a miracle if Hibari-san doesn't show up right at this moment to bite us to death!'_

"I'm alive..?" the transfer student muttered. A tick mark appeared on Tsuna's forehead.

"YOU STUPID IDIOT!" he uncharacteristically yelled as he grabbed the boy's shoulders and began to shake him. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, USING DYNAMITES AS IF THEY WERE TOYS! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED EVERYONE!"

"Wh-Wha-..?" Gokudera was beginning to feel dizzy.

"We didn't need to risk both our lives just for some stupid title as a mafia boss," Tsuna said, voice now much softer but still with a hint of irritation as he continued shaking the silver-haired teen. "We could have negotiated, I would have just handed it to you. I don't want to be a mafia boss anyway."

Reborn just watched on as the shaking continued and Gokudera muttered something too soft for anyone to hear. Tsuna blinked. "What?"

Gokudera reddened. "I said, I'll become your subordinate, so stop shaking me. My brain is rattling. I don't want a jogged memory." Thankfully, Tsuna stopped.

"I don't need a subordinate," he said slowly, "so if you hate me that much, you don't have to force yourself to be one."  
"No can do, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn intervened. "The loser has to become the winner's subordinate. That is the rule."

Tsuna rubbed the back of his head. "Well that's a stupid rule."

"It is not," Reborn denied.

"I-it's fine. I'll be your subordinate." Gokudera said.

"But I didn't even win," Tsuna pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. My mission was to kill you and I failed, so that means I've lost."

"...Y-you know, you really don't have to force yourself to. I don't need a subordinate."

Gokudera gritted his teeth. Just how stubborn was this person? "I am not forcing myself. I'm merely doing what I think is right. Also, it's as thanks for saving my life at the risk of your own." he said the last part quietly and Tsuna was stunned into silence. He stared at Gokudera for a while.

"What?" snapped the teen irritably. The brunet was looking at him as if he had grown two heads. The brunet quickly looked away. "Nothing, nothing."

Reborn jumped from the tree and landed between the two boys. "Congratulations, Dame-Tsuna. Your family now has a new member. And you got him without the need of a dying will bullet."

"Eh? Ah... I guess..." the brunet mumbled unsurely. "Ah, wait, does that mean both Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto are both part of my family?"

"That's right," Reborn replied.

Gokudera looked between them in confusion and frowned. "Who is this Yamamoto you speak of?"

"My friend," Tsuna said before Reborn could replace it with something else. The baby 'hmph'ed in disappointment but also smirked in amusement at the same time. Tsuna did not know how to feel about that.

"Okay..." Gokudera accepted the answer reluctantly. Then again, it wasn't something he should be worried about, he was just another subordinate of the Vongola Decimo. It didn't really matter much. "Anyway, it's well over lunch now. Judging by the position of the sun right now, it should be around two-thirty in the afternoon, just half an hour from dismissal." He reported to his new boss. "We should get your wounds treated in the infirmary and then head home," he decided. The teen stood up and dusted himself off then offered a hand to the brunet who took it gladly.

Gokudera kept a respectable distance between him and his boss on the way to the infirmary. Even though Tsuna himself had deemed it unnecessary both to become his subordinate or to keep such a distance between them, the bomber had wanted to think to himself for a while first.

So. Sawada Tsunayoshi had sort of gotten a smidge of his respect. Just that one smidge that he was totally not being too tsundere to admit. He had decided to be his bodyguard for the time being, since the Decimo did not truly have any family members yet to protect him from assassins, or at least he had one, if Gokudera interpreted correctly about the boy saying that he and 'Yamamoto' were now part of the 'family.' Namimori was a peaceful town, but it also had its share of yakuza mobs and small crimes, and now that word was getting around that the Vongola Ninth had sent the World's Greatest Hitman to train the new heir, there would be without a doubt a ton of assassins out for the brunet's head.

Gokudera was not so narcissistic as to think that he could be of high position in the family even if he was one of the first members, but he was sure he could fit somewhere in the higher-than-usual ranking if he did a good enough job protecting the new boss from harm.

As he mulled over this, they reached the infirmary.

Tsuna slid the door open and was met with the sight of the nurse being harassed by an older-looking octopus-haired man who was trying to get her to give him a smooch.

Tsuna had never been so creeped out in his life.

When Gokudera snapped back into reality and saw what the boss was seeing, a vein immediately popped as he marched forward and grabbed the man by his tie.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, SHAMAL?!" he yelled. The man shot him an exasperated look and huffed in annoyance.

"What, is that how you greet an old friend?" he asked instead with a smirk as he ran a hand through his hair. Gokudera released his grip on the necktie and gave him a look of disgust.

"I don't want to be associated with you, perverted doctor!"

"Gokudera-kun you know this guy?" Tsuna asked with an armful of ointments and bandages. The nurse had escaped the first chance she got after handing the brunet some items for his wounds. At his voice, Gokudera turned around with an embarrassed look.

"Yes…" he spoke uncertainly. "He is...a...uh, family friend."

Tsuna nodded in acceptance. "Oh. Okay," he then proceeded to clean up his wounds as Gokudera turned away from the brunet to rage at the perverted old man again.

When Tsuna and Gokudera both had finished bandaging themselves up, the bell had already rung, and Shamal had long since gone out to look for more pretty girls so that he could escape the bomber's nagging.

They grabbed their stuff from the classroom and started home. On their way out the gate, they bumped into Yamamoto.

"Oh hey! Where have you been Tsuna? I've been looking for you since lunch time," he grinned goofily and noticed Gokudera walking beside Tsuna. "Oh, you and Gokudera became friends? Neat! Ahaha, let's be friends too, Gokudera!" He exclaimed as he slung an arm over Gokudera's shoulder.

The boy growled at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! And who the hell are you anyway?" He demanded, shoving off the arm.

The baseball star laughed. "I'm Yamamoto Takeshi! You're Gokudera, right? Let's walk home together!"

"What? Don't decide things by yourself!" Yamamoto laughed.

"Oh come on! It's not bad to meet new friends right?"

Gokudera growled at him but had no time to reply when all of a sudden a girl jumped in front of his boss. He automatically went into defense mode, hands reaching for his dynamite and body moving forward to shield the brunette.

All that was proven necessary, however, when the girl simply crouched down to face Reborn, who had been walking in front of Tsuna, and cooed.

"This baby is so cute desu~!" she gushed happily. The three teens sweatdropped.

"My name is Miura Haru desu! You're the cutest little baby Haru has ever seen!"

"Thank you," Reborn accepted curtly, then in an instant, he had his gun pointed at her forehead. "Now, please move or I'll shoot you."

The brunette's eyes went from happy and excited to horrified and betrayed. "W-what..?"

"I am a member of the mafia. I won't hesitate to shoot." Reborn warned.

There was, of course, an immediate protest from Tsuna. "Hey Reborn! What are you saying?! You can't say stuff like that!"

Haru looked at Tsuna who was glaring at Reborn. Her murderous intent directed at Tsuna caused him to turn to her.

Big mistake.

One moment, he was yelling at Reborn for trying to kill civilians, the next moment, he was cupping his stinging cheek with his hand.

The girl could really slap.

At the moment, her anger was directed at him as she began yelling. "You monster! What kind of horrible person are you, tainting children's minds with nonsense like this?! Children are supposed to be sweet and innocent. They are like little angels with pure white hearts. What are you teaching them, with that rotten heart of yours?!"

Once again, the three teens sweatdropped. Yamamoto stepped forward, "I think there's been a misunderstanding…"

"Misunderstanding my foot!" Haru yelled, "people like you should be behind bars! Haru will befriend Reborn-chan when that happens and Haru shall hate you all forever! Goodbye!" Then she promptly turned and left.

"..."

"Well," Yamamoto laughed awkwardly. "That was interesting!"

Tsuna sighed. "Let's just go home."

XXX

When they arrived home, Tsuna and Yamamoto went up to Tsuna's room while Reborn detained Gokudera for questioning.

"Well?" Reborn asked immediately without any other words.

Gokudera hesitated. "The boss is...well, not at all like how he was described." He decided to say. "And he isn't like how a usual Mafioso would be. No man would take a beating without reason."

Reborn nodded. "True," he said, "but is he a man you would follow willingly for the rest of your life?"

Silence followed this question. The bomber mulled over this question in his head.

Was Sawada Tsunayoshi a man worth following? Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. But the silver-haired teen wasn't going to jump to conclusions just yet. If he was going to make this decision, then he would do so after he learned more about his boss.

Gokudera did not answer Reborn's question.

* * *

_**A/N:**_

1\. Sorry.

2\. That feel when school :c

3\. This was supposed to be up a couple of days ago but homework had piled up when I missed a week's worth of classes to practice for a dance contest and I'd stayed up burning the midnight oil and I'd still ended up not finishing even half of my math homework. I'm so sorry. But it worked anyway, Gokudera's chapter on Gokudera's birthday~ /dodges brick

4\. I hope this chapter makes up for my absence. I know it's late, but it's better than never, right? XD

Sorry for the long author's note.

Please tell me what you thought~


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